Transient
by Ryo Hoshi
Summary: It must be remembered, part of the beauty of cherry blossoms are how transient the flowers are. :SasuSaku, SasuNaru, & hints of NaruSaku. Allusions to character deaths, possible spoilers for manga up to around chapter 348. Set in a dark alternate future.:


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Notes: Spoilers for manga up to current, projections from events in manga up to the current chapter, darkness, and character death. All a growing kid needs!

* * *

**Transient  
By Ryo Hoshi**

If there was one thing he'd not expected, it was how he next met Naruto after Orochimaru's downfall.

Sasuke had been quickly filled in on the news, the high points of it at least. Konoha...was no longer the place he'd left, and no longer the place Naruto had somehow fallen in love with. Internal turmoil had seen to that.

He had been aware of the undercurrents running through Konoha. ROOT had been rather clear about certain of its intentions when it had contacted Sound.

The implications, which Sasuke knew he ought to have realized sooner, didn't become clear until after ROOT's uprising.

Sakura had been murdered, purely because she happened to be the Fifth's apprentice. She'd been simply too dangerous to their plans to be allowed to live, and she'd been so well-positioned to placate some of ROOT's temporary allies.

Others they had known in Konoha had died, too, but all Naruto would tell him about the civil war was that their teammate was gone.

That, and that Naruto was going to kill the one who'd killed her.

* * *

It was only after he learned she was dead that he was able to admit to himself that he had loved her. He had thought, occasionally, about a future with her. After Itachi died, when he was finally free to restore his clan.

Sasuke had still sometimes had those thoughts even after leaving Konoha, wondering what would have happened if he'd held her to her word and taken her with him. (He still wondered about that, but it was not the same now: now he wondered if she would have lived longer if he had.)

He didn't think he would revive his clan, now. What his brother had not destroyed, ROOT had. For both Naruto and Sasuke, there was nothing left in Konoha for them.

* * *

Sasuke found himself showing more interest in taking care of Sound, especially after he realized that Naruto was right. Its resources were his, and once turned to his purposes he quickly realized why Orochimaru had built it.

He also realized that while he might not ever be able to rebuild the Uchiha clan of Konoha, he might be able to found the Uchiha clan of Oto. It helped that none of the women of the village would expect him to love them, and some would not even care if he never loved them.

None of them would be Sakura; none would be able to take her place.

* * *

The details of Sakura's death he learned from Itachi. Something inside him snapped when his brother showed him the details of Sakura's last, futile battle.

Sasuke had not known until his brother's final battle that even an avenger like himself could use love.

He watched Itachi's mangled corpse for a little while afterwards, before Naruto joined him.

"Let's go home"

"...to Konoha?"

Sasuke smiled slightly. At least a few things hadn't changed, though.

"Dobe," he said, amused by Naruto's surprise at the affection in his voice. That wasn't home, not anymore. "To Sound."

Naruto smiled shakily, but for the first time since he'd joined Sasuke -- and for what Sasuke was relatively certain was the first time since their old teammate's death. "Let's go."

That night, they started sharing the same bed, finally free of the ghosts that had haunted them for years.

* * *

I ended up choosing to be ambiguous about the events in Konoha which led to Sakura's death and Naruto's departure... At this point, all I'm willing to say about them is that Naruto did not feel particularly bad when he gave up his old goal, and it was not just Sakura's death that was responsible for him changing his mind about becoming the Hokage.

There will be other stories in this continuity, later. Some might be dealing with what happened in more explicit terms -- and/or giving parts of the story Sasuke lacks. Others will be just following later events, possibly even as WAFFy as it gets given the circumstances.

Anyway, the drabbles and fragments that go into this continuity after this are _probably_ all going to be collected under the title "Petals, in Sequence."


End file.
